Vice president: Who is Biden’s best choice?
Joe Biden’s search for a running mate “is turning into an open audition,” said Gabriel Debenedetti in NYMag.com. In past years, those under consideration kept mum, but the chance to run alongside Biden—who, at 77, might cede the stage to his vice president after one term in office—has Democrats publicly jockeying for the job. Biden has promised to pick a woman, and says he wants one with national political experience with whom he feels “simpatico.” Many insiders are convinced he will choose one of the top three female senators who ran for president this year: California’s Kamala Harris, Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren, or Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar. Biden’s highly consequential choice, said Rachel Bitecofer in The New York Times, boils down to whether he wants a “balancer,” such as the liberal Warren, or a “complementer,” such as the moderate Klobuchar.
“The left wing of the party is desperate for Biden to pick one of their own,” said Jonah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times, but he should resist that pressure. Most Democrats view President Trump as a “world-historic threat,” so Biden doesn’t need a lefty to get out the vote. Biden needs to woo moderates who “don’t necessarily despise Trump” but crave “a return to normalcy.” Far-left VP options such as Warren and Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, risk scaring those voters away. Biden won the nomination by campaigning as an experienced pragmatist, and he should pick “a centrist, wonky, pleasant” running mate such as Klobuchar or Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Klobuchar appeared to be “pulling ahead” last week, said Eric Lutz in VanityFair.com, until a major gaffe by Biden complicated matters. When a black interviewer urged Biden to tap a woman of color, he quipped, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” That “cringer” could alienate people of color, and Biden’s November chances depend on massive minority turnout. That’s why Harris is the “safest choice,” said Bill Scher in RealClearPolitics.com. The 55-year-old daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants was close to Biden’s late son, Beau, and shares the nominee’s “pragmatic streak.” Progressives dislike Klobuchar, while big-money donors shudder over Warren. Harris meets “the No. 1 criteria for vice presidents: Do No Harm.”